Oymyakon in Siberia, Russia, is perhaps home to the most resilient children in the world.
There is only one school in the coldest settlement on Earth, Oymyakon (northeast Russia), which continues to operate even in the biting cold. (Photo: Dailymail)
At the school in Oymyakon, classes begin at 9 AM when it is still dark outside. Dusk occurs at 2 PM, and the sun completely sets by 5 PM. (Photo: Semyon Sivtsev/The Siberian Times).
The school in Oymyakon was built in 1932 during Stalin’s era to provide education for the Oymyakon area, along with two nearby villages, Khara Tumul and Bereg Yurde. The school has 25 classrooms and is the largest building in Oymyakon. It is equipped with a small coal-fired power plant to heat the school buildings around the clock. The school is constructed from wood, as using other materials would cause everything to explode due to the extreme temperature differences between winter and summer. (Photo: Semyon Sivtsev/The Siberian Times).
In Oymyakon, winter lasts from October of the previous year until April of the following year. Local children walk to school with their parents and sled dogs leading the way. Children from other villages must take a bus to school. (Photo: Semyon Sivtsev/The Siberian Times)
In December 2020, daytime temperatures in Oymyakon were around -47 degrees Celsius, yet students of all ages attended school. (Photo: Semyon Sivtsev/The Siberian Times)
Students here are given a break when temperatures drop to -52 degrees Celsius for those aged 7 to 11. When the air temperature plummets to -56 degrees Celsius, older students are also excused from school. (Photo: Sakha Life/The Siberian Times)
In fact, Oymyakon has different school day arrangements in winter compared to the capital Yakutsk of the Sakha Republic. There, elementary school students (ages 7 to 11) are given a break when temperatures drop to -45 degrees Celsius without wind, or -42 to -44 degrees Celsius depending on wind strength. Older students do not attend school at -48 degrees Celsius without wind, or -45 to -47 degrees Celsius depending on wind strength. Students of all ages in all schools in Yakutsk are excused from school when temperatures drop to -50 degrees Celsius. (Photo: Semyon Sivtsev, The Siberian Times)
